Blog Post #9

7 Essentials for Project Based Learning
What every good project needs:
1. A need to know- Launch on an entry event. It will spark the students interest and they will be more excited about the project.
2. A driving question- "A good driving question captures the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. The question should be provocative, open-ended, complex and liked to the core of what you want students to learn."
3. Student Voice and Choice- The project needs to be meaningful to the students. It will keep the students more on topic if they enjoy what they are doing.
4. 21st century skills- "A project should give students opportunities to build such 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology, which will serve them well in the workplace and life."
5. Inquiry and Innovation- "Students find project more meaningful if the conduct real inquiry, which does not mean finding information in books or websites and pasting in onto a poster. In real inquiry, students follow a trial that begins with their own questions, leads to a search for resources and the discovery of answers, and often ultimately leads to generating new questions, testing ideas, and drawing their own conclusions. With real inquiry comes innovation- a new answer to a driving question, a new project, or an individually generated solution to a problem. The teacher does not ask students to simply reproduce teacher- or textbook provides information."
6. Feedback and revision- Students need to know that the first time they do something it is not going to be perfect. It takes trial and error to make something perfect.
7. Publicly present the project- Students seem to care more about the quality of their work if they know they are going to have to present it to their classmates. They are more likely to research the topic more and know what they are talking about.

Project Based Learning for Teachers
In this video, you learn many things such as:
-Always have a purpose
-Crafting a driving question
-Creating a rubric
-Focusing on the project
-Refining the end project
-Students take charge of their own learning
-Meeting deadlines

High School Teacher Meets the Challenges of Project Based Learning
Math and English are said to be the hardest subjects to use for project based learning. These teachers become learners of the project based learning. It takes brainstorming and collaboration. Project based learning is exciting for students, but also for the teachers.

What Motivates You To Good In School?
This video showed many different students. Some of the students were serious and some were funny. Every teacher needs to hear what motivates their students. Some of examples were:
-Wanting to do well in life
-Thinking of future careers
-Receiving positive feedback from their teacher

Two Boys and Their Project for Project Based Learning
In this video, two senior boys are explaining their project for project based learning. They choose to evaluate why water comes out of the ketchup bottle when you squeeze. They choose this because they love ketchup. They spent about a week brainstorming ideas. They were engaged in what they were learning, and seemed proud of the end product.